The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1887-05-05
A Significant Retrospect.

pOs1 VI C~CCiCVuiy VI oitC 1iOoooiy.
A correspondent says that the ex-
Secretary expressed surprise at the
revolution the methods of the great
departments of the government
have undergone since his own day.
There was evidently more indus
try, better discipline and more eff
fective results in many of the bu-
reaus than had been secured for
many years. One reason for that
condition he believed to be the with
drawal from the departments of the
presence of Congressman and party
managers who were years ago con-
slant in their attendance upon de-
partment heads and bureau chiefs,
endeavoring to turn out old clerks
to get in new ones. Mr.. Bristow
spoke in very high terms of COM
mendation of the President, both
for his steadfastness and his mod
Grafton, and expressed his gratii-
cation that his efforts to fulfill his
pledges were receiving the general
approval of the people and COM
pelling even the consent of a few
disappointed politicians.
This is testimony that must car
ry weight with the Democrats, says
the New York Star, for Benjamin
H. Bristow was the only reforming
force that ever set to work serious
ly to carry the public service on
thoroughly strictly business meth
DDS. Promoted from Solicitor Of
the Treasury to the vacant Secre-
taryship, Mr.. Bristow found the de
|partment reeking with corruption.
He found the public service not
merely public spoil, but an essen
tial part of that vast congeries of
corruption which fed upon the pub
lie funds. Wherever he attempted
10 root out rascality he ran upon
Officials in high places in league
with theft and venality. He saw a
Secretary of War receiving brides /:
he saw great ministers of the Exec
utive, if not openly leagued with
thieves, actually abetting the pill
llage of the Treasury; he saw the
law office of the government erect
ed into a rampant between culprits
and their misfeasance. He set
about the punishment of a whisky
ring, whose circle embraced a third
of the revenue service and whose
beneficiaries varied in status, from
Senator to the Presidents private
secretary. He traced brides to the
White House and duplicity to the
Echieflaw officers ofthe government.
He piled up proofs of corruption
gathered from the center of the rev.
enue system to the desk of the
Presidents confidential secretary.
He saw an encouragement col
loguing with indicted bribers and
traced the handiwork of a fellow
Cabinet officer in warning to the
guilty robbers. He found himsel1
and his department beset with spies.
whose reports. were received in the
Executive Cabinet. He found the
counsel of the indicted felons pos.
sessed of his own confidential re.
ports to the Executive. He found
the law officers Of the revenue in
collision with the guilty wherever
he brought suit. He saw the CHIEF
of the robbers received at the White
House and driven through the pub
lie streets by the President. He
saw in every department of the
-
government twenty mel paid and
overpaid for work that is now done
by one man. He saw the bureaus
of administration an asylum fol-
harlots and the profigate camp
followers of men in high places
He saw the public service a deri-
sion, public Office a public scandal,
and every avenu ofreform blocked.
He quit the Treasury when, after a
long and painful combat, he found
that the indicted malefactors were
more potent at the White House
than himself, the legal adviser.
1t was then his party showed its
moral fiber. Driven from the Cab
met by the distrust of the Presi-
dent and the open antagonism of
his fellow Minister, Bristow was
hailed by the country as the need
ed force TO reform the government.
His name was proposed at the Gin
cinnati convention. He was set
aside for the clowny and ridiculous
Hayes. Since then he has seen his
party sink lower and lower, saw it
steal the Presidency in 1876, saw
it bought for Garfield in 1880 and
saw it sink to the lowest depth
the nomination of Blaine in 1884.
When Penn and his Quaker
friends went up to London after
the restoration of the Stuarts to en-
joy the result of their handiwork in
bringing about the restoration, his
tory tells us that they were scan